Exactly twenty-two years ago, during my employment with Ivan Tors Entertainment, I was hunkered down writing my first screenplay, which was for “Flipper: The Movie.” Delivered early in January, 1992, that script helped the firm move forward in all of its development discussions, and I was given a small sum and a contract stating that the majority of my compensation as the screenwriter was contingent upon the film being made.
Education
Trojan Horse was a Unicorn 2013
Trojan Horse was a Unicorn (THU) is a four-day Digital Entertainment Festival set for 18-21 September in sunny Troia, Portugal, promising unique opportunities to learn and network in paradise. If you’re not already planning to attend, consider putting it on your 2014 calendar. A premier event for producers, animators, game developers, concept artists, 3D generalists, VFX and CG professionals and the curious, passionate, restless and fearless, this first edition of THU will unite at least 700 professionals and students from around the world for four days of talks, demo-classes, roundtables, investment pitches, recruitment sessions, recruitment challenges and much more.
“Kickstarted” documentary feature gives back
From “Kickstarted” – the first documentary film for, by and about crowdfunding – comes “Funded in 60 Seconds.” This is a special series of crowdfunding tips, insights and best practices all delivered in under a minute. Help us keep making more content – and support “Kickstarted,” the first documentary about crowdfunding: http://bit.ly/KickKS
Inspiration for life: Toys and stories
How many people out there feel like the blockbuster Pixar series “Toy Story” relates to them, and their own experiences as youths playing with toy cowboys and astronauts? You can certainly count me among them, and of course I know that Woody is meant to be Johnny West, and at least to me, Buzz is … Read moreInspiration for life: Toys and stories
Transcending dimensions with The D4D
Hoping you will enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at how The Department of the 4th Dimension designed the experience, content and technology for the Lucid Dreams exhibit in Sephora & Firmenich’s Sensorium, the world’s first pop-up fragrance museum.
“In the Lucid Dreams interactive installation, visitors can affect floating holographic dream images inspired by Firmenich’s master perfumers. Using a high tech flower sculpture, the images transform based on the power of the individual’s sniff – triggered by the unique sound transmitted by the physical act of smelling. The multidisciplinary team at The D4D designed the complete Lucid Dreams experience including each room’s architecture, short films, floor-to-ceiling motion graphics, glowing sniff-registering flowers and the software that drives the interaction. Every step of the creative process was taken hand-in-hand with the perfumers at Firmenich to ensure a truly integrated and multisensory experience the brings their fragrances to life.”
Ewasko Days and Lights: Inspiration
In this High-Definition homage to brilliant Ewasko imagery, we illuminate the experiences and ideas behind our visually stunning joint venture.
Coming soon to PBS: “Mission of Hope”
Premiering Jan. 31, 2013, on PBS, “Mission of Hope” is the untold inspirational story of Colonel Ilan Ramon, a fighter pilot and son of Holocaust survivors who became the first and only astronaut from Israel, embarking on a mission with the most diverse Shuttle crew ever to explore space. Ramon realized the significance of “being the first” and his journey of self-discovery turned into a mission to tell the world a powerful story about the resilience of the human spirit. Although the seven astronauts of the Columbia perished on February 1, 2003, a remarkable story of hope, friendship across cultures and an enduring faith reemerged.
Playtone presents a West Street Productions and Herzog & Company film.
Cinema’s Past, Future and Present
The film industry’s creative and business sectors are at an intersection of great possibility, and new tools and practices are emerging every day. To guide industry leaders and filmmakers and to help creatively tackle the challenges of this evolving industry, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts has recently launched the Cinema Research Institute.
Adventures in publishing: Maria Popova
The Marginalian is the brain child of Maria Popova, an interestingness hunter-gatherer and curious mind at large, who also writes for Wired UK and The Atlantic, among others, and is an MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow. The Marginalian is a record of Maria’s reading and reckoning with our search for meaning: sometimes through science and … Read moreAdventures in publishing: Maria Popova
Great to know: Leviathan’s Jason White
Jason White, the executive creative director of design-focused production studio Leviathan, recently returned from a very successful trip to Australia, where he participated in events with Autodesk in Sydney as well as the Pause Digital Festival in Melbourne. At Pause, Jason presented “Moving Masses: The Art of Transformative Visual Experiences” as part of the PauseStage premiere conference event, and he hosted the world premiere of the dramatic short “Lilith,” Leviathan’s first original narrative film. The film was very well received, and so were Jason’s presentations. Here is some of the feedback.